Besides its important significance in plant taxonomy and phylogeny, sacred lotus (Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn.) might also hold the key to the secrets of aging, which attracts crescent attentions from researchers all over the world. The genetic or molecular studies on this species depend on its genome information. In 2013, two publications reported the sequencing of its full genome, based on which ...

We have developed a menu-driven computer program (CARDIO), based on a Lotus 1-2-3 template and a series of macrocommands, that rapidly and semiautomatically calculates cardiac output from dye or thermal dilution curves. CARDIO works with any dye or thermal dilution recorder with an analog output, any analog to digital (A-to-D) conversion system, and any computer capable of running Lotus 1-2-3 v...

Lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) leaves, a traditional Chinese medicinal herb, are rich in flavonoids. In an effort to thoroughly analyze their flavonoid components, macroporous resin chromatography coupled with HPLC-MS/MS was employed to simultaneously enrich and identify flavonoids from lotus leaves. Flavonoids extracted from lotus leaves were selectively enriched in the macroporous resin column, elu...

Sacred lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) belongs to the Nelumbonaceae family. Its seeds are widely consumed in Asian countries as snacks or even medicine. Besides the market value, lotus seed also plays a crucial role in the lotus life cycle. Consequently, it is essential to gain a comprehensive understanding of the development of lotus seed. During its development, lotus seed undergoes cell division, e...

BACKGROUND The safety and effectiveness of the fully repositionable LOTUS valve system as compared with the balloon-expandable Edwards SAPIEN 3 prosthesis for the treatment of aortic stenosis has not been evaluated to date. METHODS AND RESULTS All patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve implantation with the Edwards SAPIEN 3 or the LOTUS valve system were included into the Swiss Transc...

We have isolated a Lotus japonicus cDNA for pantothenate (vitamin B(5)) synthetase (PS) by functional complementation of an Escherichia coli panC mutant (AT1371). A rice (Oryza sativum) expressed sequence tag, identified by sequence similarity to PS, was also able to complement the E. coli auxotroph, as was an open reading frame from Saccharomyces cerevisiae (baker's yeast). The Lotus and rice ...

Engineers can learn from nature for inspirations to create new designs. The internal structure of lotus roots with several oval holes was studied in this paper for engineering inspirations. The structural performance of lotus roots under outside water pressure was simulated and compared with various cross-sectional areas. The distribution of stresses in the cross-sectional area of lotus roots w...

Molecular phylogenetic analyses of Macaronesian Lotus and related genera were conducted to assess their biogeographic history and taxonomy. Macaronesian Lotus, which are typically classified within one of two subgenera, Lotus subgenus Pedrosia or L. subg. Rhyncholotus, are diagnosed by the presence of a forked or toothed style and differences in corolla morphology. Maximum parsimony and Bayesia...

BACKGROUND The cellular and molecular mechanisms of adipose tissue biology have been studied extensively over the last two decades. Adipose tissue growth involves both an increase in fat cell size and the formation of mature adipocytes from precursor cells. To investigate how natural substances influence these two processes, we examined the effects of lotus leaf extract (Nelumbo nucifera-extrac...

We report on a black metamaterial of gold fabricated on a lotus leaf that was used as a template. In spite of the extremely thin gold coating (10-nm thick) on the lotus leaf, the surface shows reflectivity below 0.01 over the entire visible spectral range. Finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) calculations suggest that the low reflectivity stems from the secondary structures on the lotus leaf, w...